Author: George Malik

The Score’s Sean O’Leary graded the Atlantic Division teams’ offseasons, including the Red Wings’ work to improve their team:

Steve Yzerman added like a madman in free agency, completely transforming the outlook of Detroit’s roster with a slew of moves that should instantly help the Red Wings become more competitive. Bringing in Copp, Perron, and Kubalik creates a much deeper top nine, and the veteran presence should help insulate the club’s young stars on and off the ice.

Not only did Yzerman revamp Detroit’s forward corps, but he pounced on Husso to create a formidable goaltending tandem alongside Alex Nedeljkovic. Husso was in high demand in a red-hot goalie market this offseason after a strong year with the St. Louis Blues, and the Red Wings surrendered only a third-round pick to acquire the netminder and subsequently sign him to a three-year extension at a modest price.

The Wings needed more experience on their blue line, and Yzerman found that, too, but the four-year deal for Chiarot might be the savvy GM’s only swing-and-miss of the offseason. Chiarot has routinely posted some of the worst defensive metrics in the NHL, and paying such a high price for intangibles tends to backfire in a league so reliant on cap space. Luckily for Detroit, it has a projected $41 million in cap space next season, so the rugged blue-liner’s questionable deal shouldn’t hold the Wings back too much as they look to climb the ranks in the league’s deepest division.

Grade: A

Continued

Per WXYZ’s Brad Galli:

The captain hits the ice: Dylan Larkin working in Red Wings training camp pic.twitter.com/bsNh1jOXYQ— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 22, 2022

New man in charge: Derek Lalonde guiding the second group of Red Wings players for a practice to open camp pic.twitter.com/IsIsfoJCYX— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 22, 2022

Simon Edvinsson looking to make the Red Wings roster pic.twitter.com/QAz8OT95jf— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 22, 2022

DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce, Carley Johnson and Ken Kal covered a full hour’s worth of training camp practice today:

FYI, via Red Wings prospect and University of Denver sophomore Carter Mazur on Twitter:

Senior Kyle Mayhew, junior McKade Webster & sophomore Carter Mazur will join Justin Lee in wearing letters this season.#GoPios

MORE: https://t.co/jUN26k5GnE pic.twitter.com/OaMQdSXnX3— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) September 22, 2022

Enjoy. I said, “Hi” to Brad this morning. All class, wise gent.

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro weighs in regarding the potential NBA/MLB/NHL buy-out of Sinclair’s Bally Sports divisions:

The NHL’s ever-changing broadcasting landscape is potentially on the verge of another shift in direction.

As first reported by the New York Post and confirmed by The Athletic, the NHL, MLB and the NBA could soon purchase the right to broadcast local games on regional sports networks (RSNs) owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

“Everything is on the table now,” a league source said. “It’s a space you have to be proactive in now, before you get left with a worse solution.”

Sinclair, through its Diamond Sports subsidiary, owns the local broadcast rights to 12 U.S.-based NHL teams, with games appearing on Bally Sports-branded networks. Diamond is struggling financially and could be headed for bankruptcy, which in turn could lead to teams losing out on the massive rights fees they’ve negotiated with the company. NHL teams, on average, make around $25 million per season from those agreements, according to one source with knowledge of the situation.

“The model is changing, slowly, but team rights fees are still one of the biggest drivers of revenue for an individual team,” a team executive said. “That’s a financial pillar for the finances of an NHL club and, thus, the league.”

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Okay, yesterday’s fundraising post raised about $450, which is awesome, but there’s still about $500 to go before we cover the hotel bill. Things are a wee bit desperate, and if you can lend a hand, this is the “time of need” given that my debit card got charged early for the second half of the hotel bill.

If you’re are willing or able to lend a fundraising assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).

Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce:

Good Morning, everyone!☕️☀️We will be live from day one of @DetroitRedWings training camp starting at 10:30am today! Tune in on the Red Wings website, YouTube, & Facebook. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) September 22, 2022

The Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez got in the last question during Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s press conference yesterday morning, and Monarrez expounds upon that point this morning:

It finally happened. Steve Yzerman is talking about the Detroit Red Wings making the playoffs.

OK, I sort of had to pester him about it during Wednesday’s news conference on the eve of training camp. But the Wings’ general manager did speak about the possibility — however remote — that his team might make the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

The Wings were six points out of a wild-card spot in mid-February, so I asked Yzerman if it would be crazy to think they might be able to at least make a late-season push for a playoff spot this year.

After all, they were somewhat close last season, and that was under Jeff Blashill. Now they have what we could presume is a better coach in Derek Lalonde, plus an upgraded roster via free agents and draft picks and youngsters coming up the ranks.

So, with all that? What about it, Steve? Can we start planning our Stanley Cup playoff parties?

“I’m not prepared to say that,” Yzerman said.

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Update: Here’s more from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Yzerman is at least winning to go the Lloyd Christmas route and admit that if a lot of things fall neatly into place, there could be a chance at the playoffs.

“This season, we’ll see how we progress,” Yzerman cautioned. “If we can be more competitive on the road, match up a little bit better against the top teams when we go into their building. If we can win on back to back nights. That would give me some optimism that hey maybe we can push forward.

“But for me to talk about the playoffs now, it’s so far off. As we were talking about our division, today, not knowing what’s going to happen, you’d say probably Toronto, Tampa and Florida, there’s the three teams in our division we expect to make the playoffs. Pick whichever three in the Metro. Then the rest of us are competing for two Wild Card spots. That’s a real challenge. I’m hoping we’re there, but time will tell.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s preparations for training camp, which begins at Centre ICE Arena this morning:

Lalonde and assistant coaches Bob Boughner and Alex Westlund are among the many new faces brought in by Steve Yzerman in his fourth year as general manager. Along with Alex Tanguay, the only bench coach left from Jeff Blashill’s tenure, the group has been busy preparing changes when the Wings take the ice Thursday at Centre Ice Arena.

“In today’s day and age, with being able to do so much virtually, I think we got well out in front of this,” Lalonde said. “Even probably a month ago, talking with Steve, I thought we were a little further ahead of where I expected. We did a once-a-week Zoom with staff, and then we got together 10 days prior to camp. We’re in a good spot. Hopefully it translates to a good start of camp. We’ll have emphasis of team defense. a lot of the first couple days you’ll see will be play without the puck and improving in some of those areas that we struggled last year. We were one of the worst teams in any defensive category last year, so that’s a good starting point. A lot of that is team effort, everybody on the ice pulling the same way. Keep the puck out of your net. A lot of camp early on will be our play away from the puck.

“Special teams will be a big part of it. We’ll introduce that Day 3 or 4, leading into our Red and White Game and having those types of repetitions before exhibition.”

Wednesday saw players undergo physicals. The camp roster featured 40 forwards, 21 defensemen and eight goaltenders, who will break into three groups the first three days. Sunday features the Red and White Game, and after Monday’s practice the Wings will return to Detroit for an eight-game exhibition slate. The Wings open their preseason slate on Tuesday against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

“We kind of projected a Detroit roster, projected a (Grand Rapids) roster,” Lalonde said. “You’ll see some guys jumping around a lot throughout the first couple days. Not a lot of theme to who’s where — it’s more about team structure, more about chemistry with guys playing with each other. We’re going to have a ton of time with eight games. That’s a lot, exhibition-wise, in the NHL.”

Continued